Building A Shipping Container Home in Canada from Zigloo Saves 70 Trees!

Innovative Design of Shipping Container Homes

Considered one of the very first shipping container homes in Canada designed by Keith Dewey, this Shipping Container home from Zigloo has it all. Not only is it a great design, but it also has a ton of features like in-floor heating with hot water tubes integrated into the flooring. This keeps the home at a comfortable temperature year round very efficiently. These container homes are made from standard 8′(w) by 20′(l) by 8.5′(h) shipping containers that were at the end of their life and were purchased for the same price as scrap metal. They were able to use the containers by cutting the tops off to create more height within the units on each of the floors. This creates 8 foot high ceilings because of the addition of insulation and the concrete flooring which takes up space. Since these units are built in Canada where winters are extremely cold in some parts, they add 4.5 inches of insulation to prevent the heat from escaping through the steel. So if they were to keep the existing lid on the containers, it would reduce the height of the ceiling to only 7 feet and 5 inches which is under the required ceiling height for most building requirements in Canada. By lifting the top off and creating their own ceiling, this allows the builders to maintain the height while providing optimum insulation. They also install curved vault ceilings that go up to 10 feet high.

Cost-Effective and Attractive Construction

This particular container home design you see here is the prototype that would show people it was possible to build designer style buildings effectively and affordably. In Victoria, British Columbia for example, regular building projects are done for about $150 per square foot and designer builds are done for about $250 per square foot. This container home was able to be built for around $180 per square foot costing around $360,000 CAD. It only took 8 months to build which is quite fast as well. You can see that the end result is quite attractive as well, and looks quite modern with an industrial style. On the exterior, you'll see the sides of the shipping container exposed and painted an attractive colour. The sides of a shipping container look a lot like metal siding anyway which lends to that modern look. They used industrial style fencing around the home for the banisters and guard rails around the balconies. Even on the interior, they used this fencing for the guard rails in the staircases making them incredibly safe and giving them a funky look. They finished the interior walls with drywall creating a very modern and polished look throughout. The interior is kept very simple and clean which is very appealing.

Eco-Friendly Features and Purchasing Options

Now the company offers these homes for purchase and the EcoCargo Container Home is one of the most popular designs they have. It features two 40 foot containers with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom spread out over 800 square feet. It also incorporates eco-friendly features like a green roof, photovoltaic solar cells, solar hot water and more. People can purchase the concept plans for just $200 and the construction plans for $700. The first unit they created which is the home you see here consists of 1,920 square feet in total with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. They used eight 20 foot containers for this project and used salvaged stairs on the outside of the home. Other options include a 1,760 square foot home using seven 20 foot containers to create a similar sized home with efficient insulation and in-floor heating systems. Using these shipping containers to build homes is a wonderful way to save money and also valuable natural resources. A project like this can save 70 trees.